52stories

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“Jimmy!”

“What?”

“I think that the main slipstream, um, slipped.”

Jimmy turned a perplexed face to his brother. “Huh?”

“Didn’t you say we were going to the mountains?”

“Of course. Why?”

“Well, maybe you should look outside.”

It was dark out. At first, Jimmy couldn’t see anything. But he heard something unexpected. Waves. Right under the window. And that smell - something very fresh, like fresh… dead fish! The smell fishermen left at the dock after cleaning their catch. The smell of the stuff they threw back in.

This was definitely not the mountains!

“We gotta get out of here before anyone sees us. Take us back, quick!”

Jimmy frowned. “I can’t”.

“Why not?”

“I didn’t setup the return flight yet. I wanted to see where we ended up first, in case I needed to make any adjustments to the program. I didn’t figure I’d have to hurry.”

“Well think quick. Mom and Dad’ll kill us if they see the summer house missing.”

Shapes were starting to resolve in the moonlight, and suddenly Jimmy saw one moving. Toward them. Fast!

“Paul?”

“What now?”

“You’re the oldest brother, right?”

“Boy, what else did you forget?”

“That makes you the captain of this ship, right?”

“Yeah, whatever. Why?”

“Um, someone’s here to see you.”

A loud knock interrupted Jimmy, and he rushed back to the computer to make room for his brother at the door. Paul opened the door slowly, peering around as the visitor came into view.

“What is this? Where’d this building come from. This ain’t no construction zone. Get this shed outta here!” The security guard, a seemingly gentle old man, showed his meanest look at the boys.

Paul quickly developed one of his signature tales. “I’m sorry, sir. I think we delivered this unit to the wrong address.”

“You better get it outta here quick. People gonna be pretty pissed in the morning if they can’t get to their boats.”

“Yes, sir. My brother here,” he motioned to Jimmy at the keyboard, “is working on the problem right now.”

“Well, hurry it up. I’ll be back at 4, and you better have it out of the way!”

“I’m sorry, sir, but I seem to have lost my watch while we were moving the building. What time do you have right now?”

Looking at his watch, the guard grunted, “It’s about 2:30.” He turned quickly, and hobbled back toward the shore.

“Nice old man, ” Paul started. “Do you have time to get the program reset before 4?”

“Shouldn’t be a problem. The only issue is figuring out where we are. How about if you take a quick tour and see what you can find? I’ll get everything set up except the initial location, and final direction, and wait for you to get back.”

Paul thought for a moment. He hated the smell of the dock, and didn’t relish the idea of walking around, in the dark, only a half step away from joining fish guts in the water. But Jimmy was the techno-geek. He was the one that would have to program the slipstream or they’d end of somewhere else unexpected. “Fine. I’ll see what I can find.”

He picked up his windbreaker, and walked out the front door, following the direction of the night watchman. He could still hear the steps step-sliding ahead as the old man continued his rounds. It was surprising that there wasn’t more commotion. Paul knew he would certainly be more riled if a building showed up on his front lawn, in the middle of the night, with no sign of a delivery truck. Maybe the watchman had been asleep, and hoped no one would know he missed the delivery. Kick us out quick, Paul thought, and no one is the wiser.

The older brother picked his way gingerly toward the shore, stepping around every dark stain or pile he could see. A few of them were too well hidden, and soon Paul’s shoes were wet with, well, whatever it was he was stepping in. He didn’t really want to know.

On the shore, he saw a newspaper stand under the single light bulb. On the lightpost was a sign that said it all - “Fisherman and fishing boats only. Everyone else GET LOST!” We’re already lost, he chuckled, as he moved toward the dispenser.

He rummaged in his pockets for some change. There was not a sound. No coins anywhere. He looked back to the summer house, thought about the trip he had just completed through piles of unknown, smelly somethings, and decided it was a good time to try to open this like he used to in high school.

He pulled the collapsed scout knife from his pocket, opened the correct blade, and placed it in just the right position. Just a little nudge, and I’ll be reading the morning news.

But the nudge was too much, or the paper dispenser too old, because suddenly the quiet night air was torn by the sound of breaking glass, shards falling to his feet. A whistle sounded from the direction the watchman had gone, followed by the returning sound of the shuffling steps. Paul froze for only an instant, then grabbed a paper and ran toward the little red building he had arrived in. Jimmy had better be ready!

Paul thought he ran toward the summer house, he thought he remembered the direction, he thought his footing was good, he thought he could outrun the watchman. He took a turn and was suddenly airborne, realizing how wrong all his thoughts had been. Time moved slowly, as he saw his feet rising in the air, his windbreaker now trailing behind him, the newspaper dropped and waiting on the dock for his return. The water loomed closely, and the smell, that awful smell again, assaulted his nostrils, begging for entrance into every pore. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and cringed in expectation…

And thudded into the grass. There was no water. The smell was gone too, although he knew the memory would last for weeks. The little red summer house sat next to him, on the foundation where it had started a few hours ago.

Jimmy came out smiling. “Everything okay?”

“What happened?”

“Oh, I looked into the log files, and determined our original flight path, and reprogrammed it. Since you took the windbreaker, you had one of my locators, and I knew I could leave even if you were still outside. Are you okay?”

“Just a close call, I guess. I was almost swimming with the fish!”

“I can tell - you smell terrible!”

Nose wrinkled, Jimmy walked toward the big house, and started mumbling to himself. “I’m going to my room. I think I figured out the bug in the outbound directional routines. I need to …” The sound soon faded as he neared the house.

Paul laid back on the grass, looking up at the night sky.

He could still smell the fish.